Following continuous protests by the research scholars at Osmania University, Hyderabad, from Saturday, March 23, the university has withdrawn its notice regarding the fee payment for PhD courses.
On March 22, the university administration released a notice asking the scholars to pay fees for the upcoming year within the deadline of March 30. The notice, dated March 22, further added that exam hall tickets will not be issued to the students who fail to pay before the deadline.
To recall, a fee hike was introduced by the Osmania University in 2023 which led to a series of protests by the research scholars who highlighted that the annual fees has been hiked from Rs 2,000 to as much as Rs 20,000 — a tenfold hike.
Last week, the protests against the fee hike resumed again at Osmania campus after the said notice was released.
However, after receiving backlash from the research scholars, Osmania University Vice-Chancellor Professor D Ravinder cancelled the notice sent out on March 22.
Fee hike issue to be discussed
In addition to this, the research scholars also discussed the issue of PhD course fees with the VC and Registrar Professor Lakshminarayana, today, on March 26, where they were assured that their concerns will be taken into consideration.
“We have been fighting against the fee hike since last year. Now, the VC has assured us that it will be rolled back and for now, the research scholars do not have to pay anything. The issue will be further discussed with all department heads in the standing committee meeting on April 23, 2024,” informed Satya Nelli, a research scholar from the political science department of Osmania University and All India Students' Federation (AISF) council secretary.
The students highlighted that Osmania University has one of the highest tuition fees for PhD courses among public universities which several students enrolled in the course cannot afford to pay.
Speaking to EdexLive, VC Prof D Ravinder said, “We are very keen to address the students’ concerns but no official decision has been taken yet. The issue will be placed in front of a standing committee next month and based on its recommendations, further decision will be taken.”
